Argon Questions

General
1

I see that the Argon uses the ESP32-S0WD and a Nordic nRF52840 SoC. I have the following Questions:

  1. Is the ESP32 only there to provide Bluetooth and WiFi?
  2. Can I run MicroPython on the ESP32
  3. Is the STM32 used on the Photon a superior uC to what the Argon provides in regards to speed and memory

Thanks

2

The ESP32 only provides Wi-Fi, and is not intended to be used for other purposes. The system firmware will be open source so you may be able to hack it to do other things, but that’s not its intended purpose.

Bluetooth and Mesh are provided by the nRF52840. This is the main processor across all models (Argon, Boron, Xenon).

STM32F205 nRF52840
CPU Clock 120 MHz 64 MHz
RAM 128 KB 256KB
On-chip Flash 1 MB 1 MB
External Flash None 2 MB

Even though the Nordic processor runs at a lower clock speed, it has hardware floating point and additional encryption features which may offset some of the loss of clock speed.

The Nordic processor also uses significantly less power, making the Boron LTE and Xenon models, in particular, well-suited for running off a battery.

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3

To add to @rickkas7’s comments, code can execute from the external flash as well.

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4

Will Particle still produce the Photon board, or do they intend to switch exclusively to the Argon for WiFi?

5

The Photon (also Electron) will be still be produced even after the Argon and other mesh devices ship.

There are a number of large customers that built products around the existing Photon and Electron boards and production and support are expected to continue.

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